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That looks great Marcase. Did you make it yourself or is it from a template? I found the greatest difficulty I experienced was incorporating text in the “finished” metal effect of the rest of the plate. When I first had a go at it I was adding the text after the fact and it didn’t look right because it didn’t gel with the metal patterning. I ended up building the thing in a series of layers, then flattening, and converting it all into gray scale. Once it was there I recoloured the gradient to finish it off. I am jealous yours has bolts on the face and a wooden back as well but I think I could add in this details if I revisited the template. Saving work is important because once I leave a modified file going back isn’t easy. I think I figured out what I will be using a s a basis for a first adventure. It’s pretty close to Earth so I probably shouldn’t introduce a hostile species into the mix. When I get the next blog entry up it should be an introduction to the ship’s captain or an adventure outline.
This is the final image textured with an embroidered effect to make it look like a patch rather than a graphic along with my most recet attempt at producing a commissioning plate. I think my gradient work is getting better and this actually looks something like a metal effect 😀 !
It’s not dead, just old 🙁 . It functions much better in the cold. hot summer mean hot running AMD so it’s especially bad.
EDIT: Excellent! The file actually posted up. About a year ago I was able to post images pretty easily but those ones shut down and ones of comparable scale won’t load up. Happy to be able to share this little patch with you though. 5 stars on the crest for the five signing states of Federation charter. The fifth star also represents a north star to sail by. Take care!
What they did to the Klingons is what kills me. Visually I’m not letting it bother me. The bar is higher for something, “other” for aliens when dealing with modern special effects and the budgets that are being pumped into these properties.
I thought the Klingon obsession with bodies was ridiculous. A major plot point in this story relied on flipping canon on it’s head. At best is was lazy writing. You don’t piss all over established alien culture because you paint yourself into a corner as a writer. If the Captain was such a moral icon I can’t see her booby trapping the dead any way. If she was so strongly opposed to attacking first but a terrorist act came so easily to her I am a bit confused.
That albino asshat. What was he doing burning his hand like that? What kind of bitch Klingon would cook his hand? If it actually didn’t hurt it was just stupid. If he was damaging his hand he was reducing his ability to fight and it was as least as stuid again.
That’s cool. I played FASA’s Battletech as a kid back in the 80s. My computer can probably take MMO Battletech about as well as it can hack STO but I’m hoping the turnbased game by Harebrained Schemes will be a little less computer intensive. The universe was cool but I stopped playing before the clans entered the universe. I haven’t bought in but HBS also developed a recent string of Shadowrun titles and they were quite enjoyable.
Marcase,
I painted a bit while I was at sea. It was challenging to a) Find the time and a suitable space standing 1 in 2 watches and b) learning to paint small details on a moving ship. The last bit was actually easier. By cradling the model and brush in hand braced palm to palm it wasn’t too bad. Any movement of the ship affected the joined hands movement evenly so I didn’t make too many mistakes. Painting eyes was still a bitch. It reminded me a little of shooting; trying not to breathe and reading the swell of the sea.
I have been picking them up off Shapeways. The models pictured are the first painted figures from my first order. My tech-fu is horribly limited so I don’t know anything about computer modelling or have the budget for 3d printing at home. I like these 1/7000; They were printed in frosted detail material. I’m considering picking up a couple models at a larger scale (1/37??) in a cheaper material (WSF) to find out how well detail is preserved in it. I’m glad you liked them 😀 ; I’m almost finished a few more small ships so I will try to post them when I get them finished.
This isn’t very good deail of the ships but I wanted to show off my one planet and asteroids I made so the 22nd century BoP and Columbia refit are pretty tiny. These are 1/7000 scale ships so they are really tiny! The columbia saucer isn’t any larger than a thumbnail! I would have taken more shots but there was a wicked space monster interfering with my photo shoot.
Awesome! I’d like to see the things you have made. I have been playing around with some Enterprise imaging for my rpg campaign and am always looking for new ideas other people have.
The combined selfie worked well. Paradoxical’s image was bleached a bit but if you combined the pic in layers you probably could blend him in there too. With all this phot-fu you set yourselves up on the bridge of a ship; That would be pretty cool! I’d nominate the scene from, “The Pegasus” where you could have Sargon as Riker, Paradoxical as Worf, and Marcase as Pressman getting removed from the bridge 😀 . I’m not sure who is is in there to superimpose you over Stompar (It’s been a while since I saw the episode) but I promise I wouldn’t make you Troi 😀 .
Soft persuasion works as well. I pulled up wetworks because I was looking for the lowest,creepiest depths they would plumb. There should really be a little bit of everything. The latter works, Particularly pushing toward a united Earth government would be the careful work of political pressure and lobbyists. Whispering in ears more than knives in backs. The big difference between the Tal Shiar, the Cardassian’s Obisdidian Order, and Section 31 is that the former organizations openly act in their respective civilizations while 31 remains unknown to the general public and even to Starfleet Intelligence for the most part. Black Ops spies are good and if someone had to vanish that might work well but I was also reading up on conspiracy theories for a basis and considered myths like the Illuminati and the Rosicrucians.
Oh here are some more Mariners 😀 .
I like to think that even before Perpetual various Intelligence agencies were still committing questionable acts in the interests of their respective states. Some of the threads that would bind into the organization gathered their own hidden assets. Are you familiar with Operation Paperclip (WW2 history), this was the American operation but they were in a race with their Soviet analogues while doing it.
One of the elements of my story is built around the end of the Eugenics War. Imagine a secret prison where generations of supermen are being forced to build better worlds. There are some elements of Into Darkness here but I like the carefully orchestrated generational prison more than a space freezer. It feels more in line with Earth technology. Does it work in your mind?
In addition to making stuff I have also been at work building the foundations and seeds for the campaign. The working title for the project began as something like, “Star Trek: Mariner”. Not terribly interesting or imaginative but working titles rarely are and it gave be a semblance or order in my notebooks as I was jotting notes to myself when ideas hit.
I settled on, “Star Trek: Brave New Worlds”. The end of the Earth-Romulan War is the dawn of the Coalition of Planets. In 2161 the young union enjoyed a peace hard fought for and Starfleet, free from the yoke of war could return to it’s mission of exploration.
There we go, a cleaner delivery of the pitch but it probably needs some polish. I made a title card attached below 😀 .
I was also interested in having Section 31 in the wings stirring up trouble. In canon 31 predates the Federation but there isn’t much in the way of explanation. There was no elaboration to be had at Memory Alpha and Memory Beta was worse! Some arsehole thought it was a good idea to have the whole thing randomly run by a shitty computer! WTF? What kind of fan fic dogshit is that? I wanted a human evil so I said fuck that. In the Marinerverse before Section 31 was Section 31 there was Perpetual.
Perpetual is the spookshows and conspiracy theories of old Earth made manifest. Their ancestors were the wetwork and black ops organizations and agents that worked for or ran the world. Things got out of control. The Augment crisis of the 1990s was the first wakeup call. There were threats that transcended political alliances and enmities. By 2051 World War 3 broken out. Under threat of destruction came peace. Perpetual was born on the periphery while the politicians took the stage played at statecraft. The doomsday clock had struck twelve and mankind had nearly destroyed himself. Perpetual would exert subtle pressure or take any action required to preserve humanity. After First Contact with the Vulcans this imperative became even more poignant.
The organization has orchestrated acts atrocious and noble all in the name of continued survival. The murder of thousands of irradiated humans under the Green regime followed by his overthrow. The formation of the Trade Council of Earth and by 2099 a consolidated Earth government. Blah, blah, blah…. This Perpetual bit is still rough draft and more notelike than a draft. Hopefully it will get somewhere. I like it better than a computer even if it is messy and imprecise at the moment.
Hey all! Work has delivered a wretched kick in the dick so I’ve been busy with crapulence I’d rather not be engaged in. I remain a stranger to STO but I have managed to get some more stuff on the go for my Luddite Trek 😛 .
Sadly the forum won’t let me drop mountains of images at one time but breaking it into chunks makes it easier to explain what I’m posting so the limit is a good thing too.
I’m thinking that setting the Trek RPG in the post Enterprise era might be best. I intend to start the story in the 2160s shortly after the Earth-Romulan War. It appeals to me like Enterprise the show because there is the genuine feel of roughing it. It also seems like a prime time to be explorers rather than warriors. The period is also the birth of the Federation where the newly allied partners are attempting to find their way in union that still is uncertain of it’s direction internally and of it’s reputation to the outside.
Mariner is still the ship. As part of a legacy thing I did a little research and found a few sea bound ships that have borne the name. These included the HMS Mariner and US Mariner (both pictured). I intrigued by the USS American Mariner as she was a liberty ship (in the U.S. Merchant Marine) and eventually served in the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Navy. She is the only ship to have this distinction.
My photoediting is getting better (I think 😀 ) . I needed to create a catain for the Mariner so I got some pics from Enterprise and found a pic of Shohreh Aghdashloo. She kicks ass in the Expanse and belongs in a command position. A ship would be lucky to have a captain portrayed by such a commanding presence; Maybe 😀 . I get into the possibilities of why not later as I intend to share my story plans here and run them by you guys to get some feedback if you are willing 😀 .
I also threw in the MACO patch for the 10 man detachment assigned to the Mariner. I decided on a viking because he sort of fit with the nautical theme of mariner. The image of the raider representing soldiers and the military contrasting a ship with intentions to explore felt like a good device. I’m hoping it will be a cause of conflict and source of stories for my players.
Sorry it took me so long to post another update. I have lots more that I have been up to and hope to share that soon as well.
